Self-playing piano.



J. BAUER.

SELF PLAYING PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1911.

1,036, 1 75. Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

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SELF PLAYING PIANO.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 10, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

2 JOSEPH BAUER, OF BFOOKLYN, NEXV YORK.

SELF-PLAYING PIANO.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

Application filed August 10, 1911. Serial No. 643,269.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BAUER, a citi-.

Zen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, county of Kings,State'of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSelf-Playing Pianos, of whichsition.

A further feature of my improvement is a door or cover which is designedto hide the pedal mechanism from view'when the said pedals are not inuse, the said door being automatically opened and closed by themechanism which operates the pedals.

I will now proceed to describe my invention in detail, the novelfeatures of which I will oint out in the appended claims, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front view of a piano embodying my improvement. Fig. 2 isan enlarged vertical sectional view of a part of the lower portion of apiano,'the section being taken on a line 22 in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is anenlarged detail face view of the actuating lever which forms part of myimprovement. Fig. 4 is an enlarged rear view of the door, and actuatingmechanism therefor, and: Fig.5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectionalview, the section being taken on a line 55 in Fig. 4.

As my improved device is especially intended for pneumatic self playingpianos such a piano is herein indicated by the numeral 1, the keys ofthe piano being actuated by devices, not shown, the said devices beingactuated by air from a pair of bellows Q and 3. As is usual in thisclass of pianos '.;=..ch bellows 2 and 3 is actuated by a pedalmechanism 4.

My invention relates to the construction of this pedal mechanism and toa door 5 together with a door actuating mechanism, the said door beingopened before the pedals are thrown into the operative position as shownin Fig. 2 and'closed after the said pedals arethrown into the foldedposition shown in Fig. 1.

-The means for closing and opening the door 5, as well as to actuate thepedal mechanism, comprises firstly a rotatable rod 0 (Fig. 3) having.secured at the outer end thereof a handle 7. The rod 6 is mounted uponthe under side of the key-board 8 of the piano, the handle 7 beingconvenient to the player. As can be seen in'Figs. 2 and 3 the inner endof the rod 6 carrieslan arm '9 which in turn rocks or actuates a beamlever 10 pivoted as at 11, to the key-board member 8. One end of thelever 10 has pivotally secured thereto a rod 12 the lower end of whichis pivotally secured toanarm 13 (see Figs. 1 and 2) which in turn iscarried by a rotatable shaft 14 pivotally mounted in brackets 15, one oneach fixed member 16 of the two bellows. Theshaft 14 is provided witharms 17 having pins 18 between which a rod 19, one for each pedal 20,passes. The outer end of each rod 19 is secured to standards 21, whichin turnpivotally support a rod 22 to which the outer end of each pedal20 is secured by means of brackets 23.

Adjacent the inner end of each pedal 20 I pivotally securea rod 24 theinner end of which is pivotally' secured to a reach-bar 25. The innerendof each rod 25 is secured to a bracket 26 on the movable member 27 ofeach bellows.

In order thatthe arm 9 can operate the beam lever 10 I provide the saidlever with a curved slot 28 and a communicating straight slot 29. Theradius of the curved slot 28 is equal'to the ength of the arm 9, theradial point being coincident with the center of the shaft 6, wherebythe said shaft 6 can oscillate without moving the lever 10. During themoving of the end of the lever 9 in the slot 28 the door 5is closed oropened.

When the door 5 is closed' the arm 9 will occupy the position indicatedby the dotted lines in Fig. 3, and when the door is open the said armwill occupy a position indicated by the full lines in Fig. 3. During themovement of the arm 9, from the position indicated by the full lines inFig. 3,

toward the right, the pedal mechanism, will 7 be thrown to an operativeposition as shown in Fi 2, due to the raising of the right end 0 thelever 10 which forces the rod 12 downwardly thereby rotating the shaft14 and causing the arms 17 to move outwardly which movement will throwthe rods 19 outwardly whereby the pedals will be moved to the aforesaidoperative position. To counterbalance the weight of the pedal mechanismI provide a spring 30 as shown 32 is adapted to engage a releasablelatch .upper'end to the door 5 as at 33, by means rotation of the shaft6 will tilt the beamin Fig. 3, to actuate the door 5 I provide the rodor'shat't 6 with an arm 31 which is connected to a catch 32 pivoted atits of a link 34'. The lower end of the catch 35 pivoted as at 36 to thedoor 5'. Upon the bottom rail 37 of the piano frame I place a cam block38 which is adapted to move the latch 35, away from the catch 32 at theproper time. The latch 35 normally holds the catch 32 against movementin one direction, while a stop 39 prevents'the movement of the catch inthe other direction, that is to say radical movement. \Vhen the door 5is closed, to cover the opening 40 in the piano case thereby concealingthe pedal mechanism, which will be folded from view, the arm 9 will bein the dotted position shown in Fig.3. 4

Should I desire to use the pedals I would move the lever 7 to the rightin F ig. 1, which would rotate the shaft 6 thereby swinging the arm 9 inthe slot 28. \Vhen the shaft 6 is rotated the arm 31 will swing and pullthe door 5 open, the end of the catch 32 being held by the latch 35.When the door 5 has been moved to the position shown in Fig. 4;, ornotquite open, the latch 35 will contact with the block 38. At about thetime that the door has been moved wide open the latchr35 will have beenmoved away from the end of the catch 32, at which time the door 5 willcease moving. A continued lever 10 thereby unfolding the pedalmechanism. During the unfolding of the pedal mechanism the catch 32 willswing on its pivot 33. i

To ield the pedal mechanism, the arm 7 would be moved to the left,thereby causing the beam lever 10 to tilt back to its normal positionthereby folding the pedal mechanism. At about the time that the pedalmechanism is folded the catch 32 ,w1ll be caused to contact with thestop 39 on the door 5. A continued movement of the arm 9 will close thedoor. When the door 5 has been moved a short distance, the latch 35 willleave the block 38 at which time it will again engage the catch 32.

, It will be evident from the above descrip-' tion, that the door 5 isfirst opened, then the pedal mechanism is unfolded, by a conthen closesthe door.

Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In combination with a piano, a foldable pedal mechanism, a movablecovering therefor, operating means .for said pedal mechanism and saidcovering, a catch carried by said covering, a link connecting said catchand said operating means, a latch car ried by said covering normallyengaging said catch, and means adapted to disengage said catch from saidlatch at a predetermined point during the movement of the operatingmeans.

2. In combination with a piano, a foldable pedal mechanism, a movablecovering therefor, operating means for said pedal mechanism and thecovering therefor, a catch pivotally connected, at one end thereof, tosaid covering, a link connecting said catch and said operating means, alatch carried by said covering normally in engage ment with said catch,and a block adapted to disengage said catch from said latch at apredetermined point during the movement of the said operating means.

3. In combination with a piano, a foldable pedal mechanism, a. movablecovering theret'ona pivotal beam lever carried by the frame of thepiano, a rod connecting one end of said beam lever and said pedalmechanism, said beam lever being provided with a curved slot and astraight slot in communication therewith, a rotatable rod adjacent saidbeam lever, an arm carried by said rod adapted to engage the slots in isaid beam-lever, a second arm carried by saidrod, a releasable catchnormally engaging said covering, a link connectin said catch and thesecond arm on said ro and means adapted to release said catch when thearm, first named, on said rod leaves the curved slot in said beam lever.

Signed at New York city, N. Y. this th day of August, 1911.

JOSEPH BAUER.

Witnesses:

EDWARD A. JARVIS, FREDERICK BALL.

Copies of this patent may 'be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C."

